This invention relates generally to disposable body fluids absorbent articles and more particularly to disposable diapers, sanitary napkins, incontinent pads and the like.
It is well known to employ a topsheet having a plurality of openings in the above-mentioned articles For example, a body fluids absorbent article topsheet disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Sho-61176346 comprises a nonwoven fabric provided with a plurality of openings This nonwoven fabric is made of thermally meltable fibers each being as fine as less than 10 .mu.m (approximately 0.04 d). The open area ratio of the topsheet openings as a whole is 10-50% and the minimum diameter of each opening is 0.3-2 mm. These openings are formed by subjecting a fibrous web placed on support means to high pressure water jets or by driving heated projections into the nonwoven fabric.
The above-cited Application also discloses that a fibrous layer made of hydrophilic fibers may be bonded to a lower side of the topsheet made of hydrophobic fibers.
The thermally meltable fibers having a fiber diameter leas than 10 .mu.m and the nonwoven fabric made of such fibers are commonly known as melt-blown fibers and melt-blown nonwoven fabric, respectively. The melt-blown fibers are extremely soft and therefore the nonwoven fabric made of such fibers is suitable as the topsheet of the absorbent article because of its soft touch, However, such fibers have poor rigidity and it is difficult for the nonwoven fabric made of such fibers to provide both a desired bulk and cushioning effect. Accordingly, even if such a nonwoven fabric is employed as the topsheet of the absorbent article, it will be difficult for the topsheet to make the best use of the soft touch peculiar to this nonwoven fabric unless the fibrous layer selected to be bonded to the lower surface of this topsheet and the fibers selected to form a liquid-absorbent core of the article which comes in close contact with the topsheet have an adequate cushioning effect. As one of the measures to obtain such a cushioning effect, it may be contemplated to bond synthetic fibers having a fineness of 3 d or larger to the lower surface of the topsheet. However, the surface of the melt-blown nonwoven fabric is, in general, insufficiently fluffy to be reliably intertwined with fibers of such large fineness. While this problem may be solved by using a large amount of adhesive or by subjecting the topsheet and the underlying web to embossing at a high temperature under a high pressure, such treatment also will cause the feeling of the topsheet to be deteriorated.